In its 17th year, a popular fundraising tradition hosted by the department of art and design has opened up to the entire College of Humanities and Fine Arts, doubling the number of involved student groups.
Monster Mash is a Halloween themed art sale held by art and design clubs every fall semester. Students dressed in their Halloween costumes set up vendor stations in front of the Old Fine Arts building to host activities or sell handcrafted merchandise and baked goods. The clubs use the money made from the event to fund programming and travel for their organization.
Nicole Hand, a printmaking professor and the interim dean of CHFA, is one of the Printmaking Club’s faculty advisers. She has been the Monster Mash organizer since it began in 2008, when she said her students started the event as a way to celebrate Halloween while teaching other people about printmaking. The event grew to include any club in the art and design department that wanted to participate, with seven to nine student groups participating each year. Hand said this is the first year an invitation to participate has been extended to all departments within CHFA.
“Right now, we have 14 different student (organizations and) clubs that are gonna be participating this year,” she said. “I believe there’s at least one from every single department, which is really exciting.”
Items for sale at the Monster Mash from $1 – $2 trinkets and stickers to $15 – $20 tote bags and T-shirts, with student affordability in mind. Hand said some new additions include zines, patchwork clothes and activities like blackout poetry and cornhole with prism goggles.
In the last five years, a commemorative, multicultural element has been added to Monster Mash with a Day of the Dead Celebration shrine. Cintia Sergovia Figueroa, a professor of photography and the Photo Club’s faculty adviser, makes a display of submitted photos of deceased loved ones, ancestors and pets. On the day of the event, attendees may also add non-parishable, packaged snacks their loved ones enjoyed.
“I think it’s turning into a small popup festival,” Hand said. “For the Printmaking Club, I take it as an opportunity to teach students what it looks like to have a small business or participate in art fairs. You make sure you’re paying yourself for your time, recompensating any money you spend and hopefully making a profit.”
Hand said she hopes Monster Mash’s large foot traffic will help the new clubs get fundraising experience they haven’t had an outlet for, especially if those clubs are considering getting involved at Tent City during Murray State’s 2025 Homecoming.
One new group joining Monster Mash this year is EQ Blu, an audition-only a capella group in Murray State’s department of music. Tayveon Farrow, a senior chemistry major and the treasurer of EQ Blu, said he is glad the event has opened up to more student groups.
“Not every group on campus has ways of fundraising and gaining publicity, and this is a great opportunity for both of those things,” Farrow said. “We have a lot of plans we hope to accomplish in the future, and building a budget would be a great starting point for us.”
EQ Blu will sell baked goods and homemade bracelets and keychains at Monster Mash. Farrow said EQ Blu has had a lot of success with bakesales in the past and it is a great way to raise money while getting “our faces and our voices out there.”
“We love to perform and try to advertise as much as we can so people know when we perform,” he said. “It was an absolute must for us to participate.”
Hand said Monster Mash is the favorite event of many art and design students because it gives them a break from their routine to celebrate the season and their hard work.
“I think the best thing that happens in this event is the community it builds,” she said. “This year, I’m really excited to see this many clubs outside of the art department sign up, and I feel like that is going to create an even bigger community. I think we are all better when we support each other.”
The 2025 Monster Mash event is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23, along the walkway between the Oakley Applied Science building and the Price Doyle Fine Arts building.
